SHA NA NA
brings their rock & roll celebration to town in a dynamic, crowd pleasing
show that includes highlights of their four decade journey from WOODSTOCK,
the movie GREASE, THE SHA NA NA TV SHOW and their world wide concert
touring. In an interactive show where the audience sings along, dances
along and participates in a “Greaser Olympics, a good time is had by all
ages. Hey all you teen angels and party dolls: twist, stroll and hand jive
to the classics as performed by the crowned princes of doo-wop and rock &
roll, Sha Na Na.

Sha Na Na behaves like a reunited
old band playing its greatest hits — even if those hits weren't theirs to
begin with. The performance on this sweltering evening was a good time, if sometimes
tinged by a cloying wholesomeness…But the audience participation could be
charming and funny. And when longtime members "Screamin' Scott" Simon,
John "Jocko" Marcellino and Donny York got down to business, earnestly
resurrecting the classics, Sha Na Na achieved what it set out to do in the
era of flower power: Transport us, with a wink, back to a bygone period
that, viewed through the prism of nostalgia, now seems carefree.

The group performed a warm-and-fuzzy 29-song show that lasted 97 minutes,
not counting a 19-minute intermission. They opened with the 1957 romp "At
the Hop," the song from their career-making appearance in Michael
Wadleigh's 1970 concert film, "Woodstock."
Pianist Simon wore shiny purple and blue outfits festooned with piano-key
designs. York wore his perennial look — shades, sleeveless V-neck with
horizontal stripes, blue jeans, white socks — and still has enough hair to
comb into an improbable "D.A." Marcellino wore a mustard jacket with white
lapels over a black shirt and pants.
Sha Na Na dragged audience members onstage for "Willie and the Hand Jive,"
"The Hokey Pokey" and "Save the Last Dance for Me," during which Simon
waltzed gracefully with a young lady. In the cute "Greaser Olympics"
segment, three audience members competed doing the Limbo, the Twist and
the hula hoop. The winner was pint-sized Nicholas D'Agostino, 6, of
Emerson. (True, Nicholas had a height advantage during the Limbo, but he
also outmatched his adult female rivals with his hula hoop technique.)

These themed segments kept the show moving. Simon reminisced about warning
onetime opening act Don McLean that he would never have a hit with
"American Pie," which referenced the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy
Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson. The group then
sang Valens' "La Bamba," Richardson's "Chantilly Lace" and
Holly's "That'll Be the Day." Later, a prop street lamp and trash can
represented a city street as Sha Na Na focused on a cappella doo-wop.The
band performed a medley from "Grease" — they were in the 1978 movie —
including "Sandy," for which Simon wrote the lyrics sung by John Travolta
onscreen.

There was much clowning. Saxophonist "Downtown" Michael Brown …in a shiny
zebra-print shirt performed much choreography while blowing a mean sax.
Guitarist Gene Jaramillo replicated signature '50s riffs with ease, sang
perfect Spanish on "La Bamba" and injected a hunk factor.
As someone who played drums at Woodstock, Marcellino is in an exclusive
club alongside Keith Moon and Michael Shrieve. Marcellino did most of his
performing in front of the kit, but thankfully sat down for a few:
"California Sun," "What'd I Say," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On."
Sha Na Na also performed "Peppermint Twist," "Sixteen Candles," "Tequila,"
"Only in America," "Wake Up Little Susie," "Come Go With Me," "You Can't
Sit Down," "A Teenager in Love," "Love Potion No. 9," "Rhythm of the
Falling Rain," "In the Still of the Night," "Get a Job," "Hound Dog,"
"Wooly Bully," "Lucille," "Rock 'n' Roll is Here to Stay" and "See You
Later, Alligator."
Final number "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite" — a Sha Na Na tradition —
resonated as the audience filed out into the still-balmy night.”